'UP teen murdered, not raped'

The body of girl Razia (name changed), 14, who was allegedly raped and murdered within the police station premises on June 10, was exhumed on Monday for second post mortem which confirmed that it was a case of murder and not suicide. HT reports. Case file

lucknowUpdated: Jun 14, 2011 01:44 IST

HT Correspondent/Hasan Hindustan Times

The body of girl Razia (name changed), 14, who was allegedly raped and murdered within the police station premises on June 10, was exhumed on Monday for second post mortem in Nighasan in district Lakhimpur Khiri, nearly 200 km north east of Lucknow. The second autopsy report has confirmed that it was a case of murder and not suicide.

The state government, unsatisfied with post mortem conducted by local doctors, had on Sunday night ordered fresh post mortem. Not trusting the local doctors the government had also rushed a four-member team of doctors led by an additional director from Lucknow, which performed post mortem on Monday.

The first post mortem did not confirm rape and merely stated that teenager was strangulated to death and there was no mark of injury on the body.

The divisional commissioner Prashant Trivedi, who is camping in Khiri along with IG Lucknow Subesh Kumar told HT that girl was murdered and then her body was hung from the tree. Trevidi said the local doctors SP Singh, AK Agarwal and AK Sharma had given false report of suicide and he had asked the government for their suspension.

Even as the a petition was filed on Monday in Lucknow bench of High Court seeking CBI probe into the case, the state government announced CB-CID investigation into the matter. The petition, filed by advocate Prince Lenin on behalf of NGO We The People, will come up for hearing on June 15.

The body of Razia, who had gone missing on Friday, was found hanging from a tree located on the premises of Nighasan police station. Her parents had alleged that cops had outraged her modesty before killing and hanging her body from the tree. Initially the local police trying to hush up the case said that it was a case of suicide.

Later the district police chief DK Rai suspended one police inspector and 11 cops in the case. But when the people mounted pressure FIR was registered against the inspector and two cops late Sunday night.

The IG Lucknow Subesh Kumar Singh said that CB-CID team had already reached to take up investigation. Singh said the role of local police was under cloud and fresh investigation would commence on the basis of second post mortem report.

The issue has also snowballed into major political controversy as leaders from all the parties have rushed to the district. Large numbers of leaders from all the parties gathered outside the Nighasan police station to launch attack on the government on law and order issue. The Samajwadi Party has sent a fact-finding team to Nighasan to look into the matter.